Monopoly
by The Goddess of Percabeth
Summary: Zombie Apocalypse AU / "When the Outbreak reached Virginia, and the zombies started terrorizing their city, he was with Annabeth. They were playing Monopoly. He remembers that with perfect clarity. It's the thought of seeing her again that drove him to keep going, to stay alive and not give in." / Percabeth.


**a/n: I'm sorry for not updating literally **_**anything for the past 3 years**_**. I am an awful human being who doesn't know time management. Hopefully you'll like this. I guess it's considered Percabeth, but it's mainly friendship. I'm fairly proud of this one. As always, reviews are deeply appreciated. **

_i. before_

It is 9:08 p.m., and they are playing Monopoly. Annabeth is winning, but that is not a surprise. Percy is not as clever as she, and anyways, he _lets_ her win (even if he can't admit that to himself).

The television is on in front of them, but they pay it no attention. The news channels are the only channels still on air, but all they do is blare bad news about the latest developments of the Outbreak, and that doesn't concern Percy and Annabeth. They live in Virginia: a safe, isolated place that hasn't yet been touched but the epidemic.

By 9:27, Percy is bankrupt, and, the sore loser he is and banker of the game, stands up with the money in the bank and _makes it rain_ on her head.

"_You may have won the game,_" he says, the colorful paper falling all around them, scattering on Annabeth's worn carpet, "but I have never ending access to the bank vaults. So who's the real winner here?" Then he starts dancing on the play money like an idiot and she grins, pulling him to the ground.

"Sit down, Seaweed Brain," she laughs, "You're making a fool of yourself."

He makes a face, like he's astonished she had the gall to say such a thing, and challengers her to another game of Monopoly.

And so they sit there, smiling, playing the silly board same until dawn on the last normal night either of them will have for a long time.

_ii. her_

Annabeth Chase has not seen Percy Jackson for three months, not since the Outbreak reached Virginia. The night it happened, they had been together, playing board games or something trivial like that. She barely remembers life before the Infected showed up. Even though only six months since this whole Outbreak business started, and three months since they reached Virginia, separating her from her best friend, _Normal_ seems like a faded memory, not really there and never to come back.

It's been a week since she made it to safety. Three days since she's woken up.

After the Infected invaded her neighborhood, she had to evacuate quickly from their apartment building. Everyone did, and she lost Percy in the chaos.

She was by herself for a while. That was the scary part, the worst weeks of her entire life. But it got a little better when she met Thalia, Luke, and Grover, three other teenagers who were lost and alone, too.

Grover told them about Camp, a place in New York that would be safe. They felt optimistic. They didn't realize how far it would be.

But that was a long time ago. Now Thalia is dead, and Luke is as good as. Who knows where Grover is? Annabeth alone reached Camp in one piece, but just barely. A group of Infecteds made it to her right before she arrived at the borders.

She would have been safe if one of them hadn't had hair exactly like Percy's. It wasn't him, thank _gods_, but just the thought of her best friend reduced to an inhumane state, decaying and thirsty for flesh, froze her in her tracks. A dirty, rough hand grabbed her ankle, and Annabeth doesn't remember much after that. She woke up four days later in the Camp infirmary with a bad concussion but still living, thankfully. Today is the first day she is allowed to go out and about at Camp.

A camper a few years older than her named Beckendorf gives her a tour of the place showing her the various cabins and dining halls and training courses. He explains that Camp is mainly designed to make life the most normal they can, but some self-defense is still taught.

"Just in case," Beckendorf says, raising his eyebrows because of course it's not "just in case", and they both know it from experience. The Infected are everywhere.

At around noontime, they stop at a pavilion for lunch. There, Beckendorf introduces her to Chiron.

Chiron is the leader of Camp. He used to be a military general or something before he became wheelchair-bound the United States Government ceased to exist. Then, he put all his work into finding a cure for the Infection. And although he never succeeded, he did find a patch of woods that the Infected for some reason steered clear of. In it, he created a camp that trained young people to fight back, but mainly to go on with their lives in peace. If there is no cure to the Infection, then _their_ children will be the ones fighting the Infected. But if humankind goes extinct…

He tells Annabeth all this, but she doesn't pay much attention. Something else is on her mind.

"I'm looking for someone," and she describes Percy.

He shakes his head grimly. "I'm sorry, child. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, I could consider sending out a search party…"

She shakes her head. _No._

He sighs. "I though not. My dear, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do or tell you."

But Annabeth isn't going to give that easily. "Isn't there… somewhere else? Somewhere- other than here- that's safe?"

He leans back in his wheelchair, thinking. "Not that I know of. But it is a possibility. However, communication has been… _unreliable_ lately, as you know."

Not a yes, but then again, not a no.

She nods.

After that, Beckendorf and Annabeth go back to their seat and continue eating lunch. There is a new pit in her stomach that refuses to leave no matter how hard she tries to convinve herself that _Percy's okay, of course he's okay, he's Percy._'

But she's not really sure if she'll ever see her best friend again.

_iii. him_

He stumbles into Fort Jupiter in an exhausted daze, barely making it past the borders before he collapses in a heap on the grass. It isn't that surprising, considering he's been running practically _nonstop_ for the past who-knows-how-many months.

When the Outbreak reached Virginia, and the zombies (come one, '_Infected'_? That's seriously romanticizing what they truly are, which is _zombies_, plain and clear) started terrorizing their city.

He was with Annabeth. They were playing Monopoly. He remembers that with perfect clarity. It's the thought of seeing her again that drove him to keep going, to stay alive and not give in to the enemy.

At first he was just trying to avoid Infecteds, but then he saved this crippled old lady's life, and in turn, she told him of the only safe place for humans left: Fort Jupiter in San Francisco. It would be a long journey, but he needed to make it there for Annabeth.

All was going well until he stopped for supplies at an abandoned Bargain Mart in Napa, and two nasties caught up with him, and had chased him ever since. They made it _seriously_ hard to get any worthwhile done, like sleep or eat or keep good hygiene, especially since California was _crawling_ with Infecteds, being the hearth of the Outbreak, and since Annabeth wasn't there to stay on top of him about changing his shirt or brushing his hair.

He thought he might cry when he saw the Fort. He felt a sudden burst of energy until he reached the threshold, where he collapsed and is laying now.

He feels a gently prod into his side. Mustering up all the strength he has left, which isn't enough by far, and sees a boy around his age with Asian features. "Did I… make it?" Percy asks, his tongue sandpaper.

He boys grins. "Yeah, you're here. I'm Frank. Welcome to Fort Jupiter."

_iv. after_

The Outbreak has ended. Most of the Infecteds have been cured, and the incurable have been exterminated. Slowly, North America is slowly pulling itself back together.

Annabeth still has not seen her best friend.

She has no idea if Percy is still alive, or if he was a casualty of the Outbreak, or if he was a victim of the Infecteds. This not knowing is enough to drive her _crazy_, and she can't go on until she knows _for sure _what happened to him- good or bad.

She starts at the beginning- her old apartment building. It's dilapidated now, which is insane in itself since it's been only a year since the Infected took it over. She reaches her old unit. When she opens what used to be her front door, her heart stops because _it's still there_, after all this time.

The old monopoly board. Her game piece is in the exact position she left it in, and she sees a few paper bills scattered around the floor. Her eyes water just looking at the sad thing, and she closes the door.

In that moment, she _knows_ Percy's out there somewhere, waiting for her. Determination sets over her like an old friend.

And it take weeks for something to final happen that gives her hope, but she eventually runs across an old lady who has a very interesting tale to tell about her friend Percy Jackson.

"Oh, yes, _that_ boy," the woman, who has a crippled leg, says with a twinkle in her eyes, "He saved my _months _ago, so in return I gave him the address of a place where he'd be safe. You're her, aren't you? The girl he was staying alive for?"

She ignores this last question and says, "Well, he didn't make it to the safe place. I've been there in New York for the past nine months, and he hasn't showed up."

The old lady, whose name is Juno, raises an eyebrow. "New York? No, no. The safe place is in San Francisco. And as far as I know he is there right now."

Annabeth's heart soars and she greedily collects the address.

Two weeks later, she reaches a place called Fort Jupiter. This is it. This is what she's been waiting for.

And there _he _is. Percy stares at her, startled. Maybe he thinks he's hallucinating, but she doesn't care. She runs to him without hesitation, and they hug, hug tight for years.

And though nothing will ever be the same again and they're thousands of miles away from Virginia, she's home. With him, she's home.

And that's all that matters.

**a/n: if this gets popular, I'll consider doing a few one-shots that might eventually evolve into romance. Your call…**


End file.
